New Zealand skipper Josh Hyde dominated the 2026 Chicago Grand Slam, claiming his first senior World Match Racing Tour international title hosted at the Chicago Yacht Club. After entering the knockout brackets as the sixth seed on Lake Michigan, the rising Kiwi sailor mounted a spectacular comeback, concluding with a 3–0 sweep against America's Christian Prendergast to capture the prestigious match racing championship.
Josh Hyde has won the Chicago Grand Slam, the New Zealander sailing his way from sixth seed after the round robin to the title without conceding more than a single race in any of his final three series. The World Match Racing Tour stop ran from 14 to 16 August at Chicago Yacht Club on Lake Michigan, drawing an eight-boat fleet from New Zealand, the United States, Australia and Canada.
Match racing pits two identical boats against each other over a short course, the outcome decided by boat-handling, starts and umpired rule-play rather than raw speed, since both crews are sailing the same hull. It rewards a skipper who peaks at the right moment, and Hyde's week is a case study in exactly that.
He won nine of his final ten races at the regatta, a run that began with a 3-0 sweep of Australia's Tom Picot in the quarter-final, continued through a 3-1 semi-final win over Australian Marcello Torre, and closed with a 3-0 final victory over American Christian Prendergast. None of it looked likely after the round robin, where Hyde finished 2-5 and scraped into the knockout stage as the sixth of eight seeds.
The top seed through that opening phase belonged to American William Stratton, who went 7-0 without dropping a match. Stratton's form carried him to the semi-final, where he lost 3-2 to Prendergast, and then to the petit final, where Torre beat him 2-1 to claim third. That result gave Australia its best finish of the regatta.
Picot's tournament went the other way. He'd tied for second through the round robin at 5-2, level with Torre, only to be swept by Hyde in the quarter-final and then finish 1-2 in the 5th-to-8th placement round robin, dropping him to seventh overall.
The Chicago Grand Slam is the opening event of the 2026 USA Grand Slam Series that grants the winner an invitation to Long Beach Yacht Club's prestigious Congressional Cup 2027.
Hyde's win is his first senior international title on the World Match Racing Tour, a step up from the youth match racing ranks where he has spent the past two seasons building a reputation as one of New Zealand's sharpest young skippers.
| Place | Sailor | Country | Round Robin | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Josh Hyde | NZL | 2-5 (29%) | Won final 3-0 v Prendergast |
| 2 | Christian Prendergast | USA | 2-5 (29%) | Lost final 0-3 |
| 3 | Marcello Torre | AUS | 5-2 (71%) | Won petit final 2-1 v Stratton |
| 4 | William Stratton | USA | 7-0 (100%) | Lost petit final 1-2 |
| 5 | Peter Holz | USA | 3-4 (43%) | Won 5-8 RR 3-0 |
| 6 | Alexander Heinzemann | CAN | 2-5 (29%) | 5-8 RR 2-1 |
| 7 | Tom Picot | AUS | 5-2 (71%) | 5-8 RR 1-2 |
| 8 | Molly Carapiet | USA | 2-5 (29%) | 5-8 RR 0-3 |
